Set 1
Well surely it would be nice to have every recording being so snap crackle, poppin. just listen to Phil riffing during Bertha.
This is down and dirty Grateful Dead. Pretty raw and edgy not so space oriented and with some Pigpen attitude to boot.
Loser is so mellow , just sort of hangs and floats as Jerry drops the lyrics. A solid 1st set tune. This recording is great for the Phil Zone.
Cumberland is so rockin' in 71. Garcia fired up!
It would take until Brent got a hold of the tune for it to dance again.
Greatest Story sounds better to my ears in 73 when Jerry gives it the Wha/ Wha treatment.
>Johnny B- Garcia likes to put in backing vocals on this tune
and he can play that guitar.
Not a huge set but reflective of 71
(except for those rare nights with a 1st set Dark Star)
ths recording has better than average sound for any year.
Set 2
Truckin>Other One -includes 3 minutes of Bill beating down his kit.
Like that bust out into the TOO jam,,, primal DEAD!
Where they might spend an entire night in the cosmos in 1969
they were content to just dabble in 1971
But when they dabbled they went for it.
So I guess Pig would be off stage for most of this set.
(I don't really here any Keys in the mix nor harmonica)
Casey Jones- has a good pace with Garcia riff going.
Better when they played this song somewhere mid-set rather than
forcing it to produce as a set closer.
To me this tune has an 'outside looking in' quality
that has to be resisted ie- just throwing it on autopilot.
Sugar Magnolia-Very sweet in 71. no pressure slot- let's the song
unfold-- "We can discover the wonders of nature"
a standard list for 71 with a late DEAL thrown in.
DEAL is one of those tunes that grew in jam size over the years.
NFA>GDTRFB>LOVELIGHT probably take you 3 nights to hear that during the 80's and 90's.
The jam gets cooking late in GDTRFB and they are all in
as PIG leads them thru LOVELIGHT!
Weir shreds his voice too little tiny bits
Everybody on fire.. MELTDOWN
HoT!

Overall: This show is great all the way through! There are some recording issues like missing the entire 2nd half of H2H and the glitches in CR&S but the sound is crisp and Phil is totally in charge tonight. Everyone is playing well together. Phil is prominent. One of the best shows so far this year.

1st Set: Starts off shaky with the sound but they get it together by BERTHA and nail every song. PITB has a nice funk to it that makes me want to shake my booty. HARD TO HANDLE looks like it’s about to be a great one but then comes the tape flip and it is lost to antiquity. GSET is tight and short and we are led out of the first set with an always rollicking JBG.

2nd Set: The second set opener of TRUCKIN is nice with a DRUMS into THE OTHER ONE. This is actually a good OO, a song I’m not a big fan of but they play the heck out of it. The segue into WHARFRAT is, of course, trippy and good. MABM looks like it is going to be one of the bests but the taper, God bless him, isn’t paying attention and flips the tape in the middle! Oh, well. CASEY JONES is actually good here. I can’t believe it but they really jam it out the way it needs to be. SUGAR MAGNOLIA is actually really hot. DEAL is really good. It’s all good.NFA into GDTRFB is sublime and one of the best so far. The LOVELIGHT is one of the best I’ve ever heard.

Good show, with some excellent highlights.

This was the first GD show I ever went to. I was 15. Wow!

A few of these pre-Keith five piece performances from 1971 rank among my least favorite pre-'75 shows in the canon. They're just ... boring or kinda half-baked, with the band seemingly not sure whether they are missing something or where to find it.

But this ain't one of those.

Ladies and gentleman, meet Bill Kreutzmann.

Be sure to at least check out the short white-hot Lovelight to hear some magnificent drumming and stick around for Sam Cutler admonishing the venue promoter for daring to suggest that the band was "tired."

This show is possibly the best all-around of April 71 outside of the Fillmore East run. Set 2 in particular is worthy of high praise.

The Other One is fantastic, with lots of great interplay and intensity, some of the best Other One jamming of the pre-Keith 71 era.

The end of the set is remarkable as well, with great playing in NFA and a perfect segue from GDTRFB to Lovelight. This Lovelight, much like the Other One prior to it, contains some epic and cohesive interplay between the guitarists, and truly one of a kind thematic jamming. Though short, it is likely one of the best Lovelights ever performed. Quite an exclamation point to end this wonderful show on!

My first live concert ever!!!And it rocked!! Made me a dead head forever

Better playing than ever with lots of new songs in '71, if not as nice and spacey as '70+'72.
Pittsburgh is no exception. Phil is in high gear.

This show is one of the greatest of that raunchy, harsh electric 1971 style. It is a more "ordinary-rock-band" sound but the Dead rocked it and threw in their own weird jams. Pigpen is great on this one.

But this is certainly a gem of a show.

It crackles with energy and the Charlie Miller sound is dynamite!

This live wire performance would get five stars if it wasnt for the cuts, which seem to occur the most inopportune times. Still, its closer to five than four. Dont miss the tragically cut Other One! (97 pts)

Folks often speak of a bands "body of work". I offer neither a rating for this recording, nor apology for this metaphor, but this feels like marrow to me. Can't help but love '71!!!!

wow..always thought this show didn't exist on tape..for a long time no setlists available...i really don't remember any particular song in the show..I do remember thinking that the New Riders were the GD because I knew what Jerry looked like and saw him come out with NRPS...what a great year for the band

in the ruff!

a brilliant show!

be patient

let the carbon congeal

`

~^|\_@|@_/|^~
~<->/<->\<->~

Thirty eight years ago today the GRATEFUL DEAD performed at the Civic Arena in Pittsburgh. Where were you?

5 Stars for the mix, recording, performance and transfer.

A Charlie Miller "Masterpiece". I suggest you click on Charlie Miller's name and collect all his GRATEFUL DEAD shows.

I highly recommend adding this show to your 1971 GRATEFUL DEAD collection.

Eat, Drink, Be Merry, and Listen to the GRATEFUL DEAD.

Thanks for the LOVE from 1971.

PS: I highly recommend getting every April 71 show there is on the IA. The best shows the GRATEFUL DEAD ever did were in April of 71 at the Fillmore East, and West and they are hard to find too.

A good, strong, rockin' show, but nothing special. Maybe it was the curfew (they got it extended to 11:45). Or maybe it was just typical for that year, i.e., a 10 minute Other One, just the radio version of Playin', etc. There is some good, tight playing here (except for Wharf Rat, which comes off as a work in progress), especially by Bob, who had tightened up his rhythm guitar to the point where he was driving songs like Hard to Handle and Johnny B. Goode to new heights. Hard to Handle reached its peak that year - too bad this one cuts off just as it's hitting stride. The taper must have just started up the tape and let it roll. There are other recording issues, particularly in Cold R&S. The strongest playing of the show, IMO, is on NFA>GDTRFB, another sequence that may have hit its peak in 71.

Bottom line is this is an average show from somewhat of a down year, the valley between the peaks of 68-69 and 72-74. Recording glitches bring down otherwise excellent sound.

I would love to give this a five but there is a few jumpy spots on the recording, VERY CRISP sounding, I would definitely recommend checkin this show out. Starts out a little shaky but picks up after a bit and ends up really rockin!!!!

How come the tapers never missed the 2 to 5 minutes of tuning up between songs, only to have the tape die in the middle of H2H and Me and Bobbie McGee? This sound is so clear it's like I'm sitting on stage- Right next to Phil, you can hear and feel his every note, mild to bomb! Point off for the song cuts.

that's what I love about this sorta recording, you CAN'T hear the audience....make your own noise!

I just heard this show on WBAI last night (Feb.18) The sound of the recording is fabulous as well as are the performances. Extremely clear SBD with vocals + instruments up close making for almost definitive versions of these songs. Only drawback is that the audience is barely audible. On 3/24 Winterland, audience is heard going nuts, but recording of the band is not as good as this one. Hard to find a happy medium. This one IS fantastic.

Is this the correct date for this show? the playlist says 02-19-71 and deadlists does not list a show for 04-12-71. i can't find the exact setlist as it is listed here either. there are several cuts as in Hard to Handle as well, but the sound quality sounds pretty consistent. otherwise a great performance and the quality is excellent.

nice performance not real long as most of the shows from this spring seem to be but a solid performance the dead came out ready to kill in 71 after a shakier year before pig pen is the star of this one